Saturday, September 25, 2010

proverbial cows

Here is a series of etegami based on cow-related proverbs. Some may be familiar to you, others less so. Since cow faces featured prominently in Issa's cows, I tried to refer to the cow a little more indirectly this time. The one posted here at the top quotes an African proverb. I don't know which tribal group or language culture, but it obviously comes from one which values cow dung for its usefulness in daily life. I wasn't trying to be gross or anything. (Those black marks are cow hoof prints, by the way!)

Of the etegami and etegami collages shown below, the only one that doesn't come with English writing is the Japanese proverb that reads: Tsuno o tamete, Ushi o korosu, which translates roughly to: Killing the cow while trying to straighten its horn. It has a similar meaning to the English saying "strain at a gnat and swallow a camel." (obsessing over minor things and screwing up something major).

I think I'm finished with cows for a while. But I would be thrilled if any of you want to send me your own hand-painted etegami or other mailart based on a cow proverb, song, or poem from your own culture. :D

Hi Debbie, found your blog through some ASIJ friends on fb. I'm a classmate of Cynthia's. Wonderful work you are doing here. Maybe you can do a cow Etegami inspired by the cow in the movie "O Brother Where Art Thou"?

A Beginner's Guide to Etegami

what is etegami?

Etegami (e= "picture"; tegami= "letter/message") are simple drawings accompanied by a few apt words. They are usually done on postcards so that they can be easily mailed off to one's friends. Though etegami has few hard-and-fast rules, traditional tools and materials include writing brushes, sumi ink, blocks of water-soluble, mineral-based pigments called gansai, and washi postcards that have varying degrees of "bleed." They often depict some ordinary item from everyday life, especially items that bring a particular season to mind.